KING OF KRANJI DIES
MELBOURNE Cup winner and New Zealand Hall of Fame trainer Laurie Laxon has died.
Laxon, who prepared 1988 Cup winner Empire Rose, ruled supreme in Singapore prior to his retirement in 2017.
Laxon won nine training premierships in Singapore.
Champion trainer Lee Freedman and Victorian jockey Daniel Moor posted tributes on Twitter on Friday.
“Rest In Peace the undisputed King of Kranji, Laurie Laxon. Absolute legend of the sport,” tweeted Moor, who spent several years in Singapore prior to moving back to Melbourne.
Freedman posted: “Very sad news from NZ that our great mate and wonderful trainer Laurie Laxon has passed away.”
Laxon’s former wife Sheila in 2001 became the first female trainer to win the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double with Ethereal.
Laxon had lived in retirement in the Coromandel seaside town of Whitianga since returning from
Singapore in 2017.
He had ruled supreme in Singapore training ranks after relocating there in 1999, winning multiple premierships and becoming the first to win 100 races in a season, and is the only trainer to reach more than 1000 winners at Kranji.
After completing a carpentry apprenticeship, Laxon established a stable near Ngaruawahia and made his mark in the 1974 Great Northern Hurdle with Cobland, who he owned with his late wife Jenny, before establishing his credentials as the trainer of major flat performers.
A big part of that early success was his association with brothers Philip and Peter Vela, leading to their joint maiden Group 1 success with the Sir Tristram filly Noble Heights in the 1981 New Zealand 1000 Guineas.
Laxon also trained the Vela-owned and bred Romanee Conti, who won the 1993 Hong Kong International Cup and was the dam of Ethereal, who was trained by Laxon’s second wife Sheila to win the 2001 Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
“Laurie was an outstanding trainer and horseman who was particularly skilled with fillies and mares,” New Zealand Bloodstock Chairman Joe Walls said.
“His astute horsemanship was noted by a number of successful breeders, most notably Peter and Philip Vela, and they had some great times together. When Laurie went to Singapore he remained staunchly loyal to the New Zealand-bred and much of his success there was down to the horses he sourced there.”
Laxon is survived by his sons Craig, Roger and John, and daughter Lucy.